Mile End restaurant targeted, owner believes it’s because of his Jewish heritage

Montreal police (SPVM) are investigating after a business in the Mile End was targeted on Wednesday. It’s still unclear if it was by gunfire, after three holes were found on the restaurant’s windows.

The owner of Falafel Yoni on Saint-Viateur, Yoni Amir, believes it’s because the business is “Israeli-owned.”

“It’s very unfortunate, not just for me, but anyone that shares my heritage,” said Amir.

SPVM spokesperson Sabrina Gauthier explains to CityNews that it’s still too early to determine if this is a hate crime.

She confirms that the incident likely happened overnight, but police are still working on gathering more evidence – and surveillance footage on an exact time or possible suspects.

Amir tells CityNews that staff made the discovery in the morning and he alerted police. Amir said it’s more likely to have been another type of projectile and not an actual firearm. Authorities for now cannot confirm if the holes are from gunshots or other objects that could have made the piercings.

Online list to boycott certain businesses

Amir says the restaurant has been on a social media list that’s been circulating on Instagram and TikTok, calling for the boycotting of “businesses that support Israel.”

Adding that, “we actually , very intentionally, have never made any political commentary whatsoever. We don’t think a restaurant is a political platform. As to not polarize or ostracize anyone. Restaurants are for everybody.”

“We have nothing to do with the conflict, nor are we politically involved,” explains Amir. “I am born in Israel myself and my partner is Jewish. And we found ourselves on this boycott list. I factually know we haven’t made any kind of a [political] commentary.”

Amir said he became aware that another Jewish owned business, Sherbatov Fit, had also experienced a similar attack with windows being smashed by an object. CityNews visited the gym and received confirmation that their front layer windows were shattered.

Zero arrests have been made as the SPVM are currently investigating the incident.

Similar to Falafel Yoni the motive and suspects are unknown, but police confirmed the damage done to Sherbatov Fit was not from a gunshot.

They add that it’s too early to be called a hate crime. Amir thinks otherwise.

“I don’t think that there’s really any question in anybody’s mind as to why we were targeted and why our neighbours for example weren’t.”

In the past few months, some pro-Palestinian stickers that say “Free Palestine” or making references to “genocide,” and posters, have been left on the windows of the Saint-Viateur location, as well as some at their Verdun restaurant. This is the first time someone has used possible projectiles there.

Falafel Yoni reopened on Thursday with a message in the window saying, “stay safe,” with a heart drawn on it.

Amir told CityNews that he regrets that his staff has “to feel unnerved or unsettled at their workplace, that’s not OK.”

“I don’t expect security onsite 24/7 of all Jewish businesses, it’s kind of an unrealistic thing. I don’t think businesses need to be identified by the heritage of their owners and therefore targeted.”

Politicians denounce violence, intimidation against Jewish community

Mayor Valérie Plante wrote in a message on social media, that the act appears to have been committed with the aim of intimidating the city’s Jewish population.

“Anti-Semitism and violence, whether expressed in images, words or gestures, do not represent us and have no place in Montreal. I have full confidence that the SPVM will put all the necessary resources into finding and arresting the perpetrator of this crime,” reads the Mayor’s post.

Montreal Liberal MPs Rachel Bendayan said this is only the latest in a string of incidents that have left some members of the Jewish community scared of wearing kippahs or letting their kids go to school.

One of those incidents was the May shooting of a building housing the Belz school and synagogue on Hillsdale Road in Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.

As of June 17, Montreal police report 146 hate crimes and 104 hate incidents since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7 – targeting both the Jewish and Muslim communities.

Currently, 31 files have been submitted to the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP).

-With files from The Canadian Press